DAC-9

I listened to STA-9 mono versus stereo and was surprised by the sound quality change for the better, not just power increase. So I was perplexed because for most of the bridging amps the mono sound quality should be slightly worst, not better.I just got this technical info from the engineer.

1. The SNR ratio for mono STA-9 is 3dB better! Why? See #2.

2. The standard design method to bridge a stereo amp into mono is by using a series of Op Amp (OPA) to invert the input signals to one of the stereo amp thereby making the two stereo amps the opposite phase which can then be combined to increase the power. STA-9 innovative bridging circuit utilise a designed we called Single End Direct Inject Bridge Technology so that the mono mode, in additional to having much more power, sounded more lively and dynamic. Seriously this is what I heard - more lively(engineering is working on an illustration to describe the SEDIBT design, difficult to describe in words)

Hi. One more question on the outputs.Going single ended to sta 9. I want to run a balanced to my sub with only one xlr input, can it be either left or right or do I need some kind of y- connector. Thanks

Hi. One more question on the outputs.Going single ended to sta 9. I want to run a balanced to my sub with only one xlr input, can it be either left or right or do I need some kind of y- connector. Thanks

2. The standard design method to bridge a stereo amp into mono is by using a series of Op Amp (OPA) to invert the input signals to one of the stereo amp thereby making the two stereo amps the opposite phase which can then be combined to increase the power. STA-9 innovative bridging circuit utilise a designed we called Single End Direct Inject Bridge Technology so that the mono mode, in additional to having much more power, sounded more lively and dynamic. Seriously this is what I heard - more lively(engineering is working on an illustration to describe the SEDIBT design, difficult to describe in words)

I'm curious if it will use this circuit even if you use a balanced input?

I have a concern about the dac9 - sta9 combo I have. I notice with my old preamp that I had to turn it up quit a bit more to reach my usual levels with the Sta9 then my old amp. The old preamp had a 2 volt output so I got the dac9 which has a 4 volt output, same results. Then I invested in some xlr cables which should be an 8 volt output, same results. First to admit that I know nothing about electronics, why I am asking. I was listening to Super Tramp Crime of the Century Mobile Fidelity Gold, which I admit seems recorded at a lower lever. To reach 90 db's I had to turn up the dac9 to 85 on a scale of 99, my speakers are 89db efficient. Am I worrying about nothing, seems out of the norm to me. I admit the combination sounds awesome, best I have had, but just worried I am overdriving something. Thanks for any advice.

STA-9 has gain of 22 due to its design. So it is expected that you should turn up the volume of your preamp and there is nothing wrong with that. The preamp best performance should be around 0 dB region (I think that corresponding to a very high volume level).So your ear is telling you the correct thing. If it sounded so good, believe your ear

John corrected my misunderstanding. Looks like MQA now required some code to be licensed into DAC.I am not sure if we will ever support this. This is just too much work and cost without payback in sight. How many of you will be willing to pay a few hundred $ more for MQA that is built into our next generation DAC and how many are willing to get rid of your existing DAC.And how many are willing to put down the deposit? Unless the demand is in the hundreds, we will lose money for .... what purpose?This is mainly a business decision. I have been following AIXRecords discussion of MQA as a third party validation but haven't heard anything definitive.

The DAC-9/ST-10 is, for me at least, a very good sonic match.As promised, the DAC-9 introduces just a little bit of warmth, certainly more so than the Mytek 192 I used to have. I think the DAC-9's preamp functionality is also an improvement on the Mytek. The sound is very 'clean', low distortion, etc. but with enough of a 'liquid', organic quality to please me. And it plays LOUD, effortlessly. I can't push the volume beyond 15. So the combo has plenty of gain. I think if you have speakers that are hard to drive, this combo would be an excellent solution. But it also works beautifully with my Q's.